Immigration is one of those issues that reliably brings out those with strong feelings on both sides.
So it is not surprising that a comprehensive immigration bill pending in the U.S. Senate has been the subject of intense lobbying, even as Congress was on break last week.
At town hall meetings and community barbecues across the country, federal lawmakers got heaping servings of opinions about how best to deal with the contentious issue.
We hope the majority of them remain steadfast in their commitment to pursue a rational plan to fix what is clearly a malfunctioning system and create a path to citizenship for the 12 million people here illegally.
“Our values are tarnished when we allow 12 million human beings to live in the dark shadows of abuse as undocumented immigrants,” said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., the main Democratic author of the bill. “Our competitiveness in a global economy is at risk when our employers cannot find the able workers they need.”
Lawmakers would do well, too, to keep in mind the frequently inconspicuous sentiments of the majority in this country who favor a moderate and pragmatic solution.
A recent New York Times/CBS News poll showed broad support for the main tenets of the immigration reform bill being debated in Congress.
Sixty-six percent of those polled favored a guest-worker program, and 62 percent said that illegal immigrants who are in the country for at least two years should be allowed to apply for legal status.
The Senate bill originally would have provided guest-worker visas for as many as 600,000, but the Senate trimmed that to 200,000, an effort to minimize worries that foreigners would force down wages and push out U.S. workers.
The bill also would provide provisional legal status to those in the country illegally, and would require them to pay $5,000 in fees and fines and return to their home countries to apply for citizenship in the United States.
This is the provision that critics are referring to when they say the measure offers “amnesty” to people here illegally. Those critics fail to recognize the difference between a reasonable process to attain citizenship and unconditional acceptance of the status quo.
“It’s so hard to grapple with this amnesty argument,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D- Calif., co-author of the bill, said. “Amnesty is absolute forgiveness of transgressions. This bill is not amnesty.”
The other main tenets of the bill include reshaping the legal migration process to emphasize drawing workers with skills and education and shift away from family reunification. And it will include a strict worker-verification program to ensure illegal immigrants won’t get jobs.
The portion of the bill that has drawn the most support would strengthen border security, build fences and hire 18,000 new border patrol agents.
It only makes sense to tighten the borders in conjunction with a sweeping plan to address the illegal immigration problem, and we’re glad to see it in this context. Without a secure border, virtually every immigration plan would be destined to failure.
Congress will return to Washington this week, and the Senate will continue working on the bill. Unfortunately, with such divergent opinions on the issue, there will be no way to come up with a plan that will soothe all critics. But we hope that lawmakers manage to sift through the high-pitched arguments and stay firm in creating a solution.
President Bush, who has made immigration reform one of his top domestic priorities, is urging members of Congress to steel themselves against criticism and send him a bill. Getting a reasonable plan in place and monitoring it for the inevitably necessary tweaks is a good course of action that we strongly encourage Congress to follow.
